Hawaii auto sales rose last year by the highest margin on record as the industry recovered from the economic downturn that drove it to hit bottom in 2009.
Sales increased 20.9 percent to 44,830 from 37,086 a year earlier, according to the Hawaii Auto Outlook report released Tuesday.
The report, prepared for the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, tracks consumer registrations of cars and light trucks, which include pickup trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles.
Auto sales are projected to rise 6.5 percent in 2013, according to the report.
"Our chart goes back to 1989, and the biggest previous (increase) was from 2002 to 2003," HADA Executive Director Dave Rolf said.
During that period, sales rose 17.6 percent to 62,712 in 2003 from 53,314 in 2002.
Last year’s increase largely stems from pent-up demand, Rolf said.
"Our chart somewhat looks like the Golden Gate bridge, and in 2009 we were at the bottom of the ocean" with 33,639 registrations, he said.
"Near normal is around 50,000," Rolf said.
Hawaii outperformed the U.S. in every quarter of 2012, the report found, which Rolf attributes to the mainland’s auto industry recovery being ahead of the lagging Hawaii market.
Given that Hawaii is on pace to catch up, "I think as everyone kind of sees the sun coming up, there is a great deal of confidence," Rolf said.
Factors aiding the boost in sales and registrations included showrooms that had "plenty of inventory, and interest rates were really good; everything was in place to see things move back toward normal," he said.
Registrations of alternative powertrain vehicles including hybrids and electric cars reached a record in 2012, the report found.
Hybrid sales were up 87.6 percent over 2011, while electric vehicle sales rose 2.9 percent.
"Even though the large state rebate wasn’t there, electrics became more attractive" given the pricing of leases, Rolf said. The infrastructure supporting electric vehicles, such as high-speed charging stations, is taking shape in Honolulu, he noted.
Overall, Toyota and its Scion brand remain Hawaii’s favorites with 26.3 percent of the statewide market, followed by Honda with 12.9 percent and Nissan with 10.1 percent.
Japanese brands lead Hawaii with 61 percent of the market, followed by the Detroit Three — comprising Chrysler, Ford and General Motors — with 19.7 percent and European models with 11.9 percent. Korean-made vehicles including Kia and Hyundai also are growing in popularity for a fourth-place 7.4 percent market share.
Light trucks continue to lead market share on neighbor islands, but on a statewide basis the category declined last year by 2.3 percentage points, the same difference by which the car category grew in Hawaii over the past year.
